Mama-san!

Oh we love our mama-san! And I wonder if we are adjusted to living here since L has played "mama-san" in the hallway with our 5-year old neighbor. I don't think L quite understood what she was pretending, but the girls asked for brooms, dustpans and mops. They proceeded to play "mama-san" by pretending to clean the hallway. Have we lived in Okinawa too long?

Several other nuances about living in Okinawa include:

1. The Okinawans like to drive in the middle of the road and MIGHT move out of your way if you don't move first. I think because by looking at the license plate you can tell if it is an American driver or National, the Nationals expect the Americans to move out of the way.

2. Okinawans respect when you try to use Japanese.

3. The fruit here is amazing!

4. The weather is still warm many days. Yesterday the high was 68* which I adore!

5. The Okinawans like to look at blue eyes. They are all in awe of L's blue eyes and repeatedly compliment her.

6. The local people are fascinated by the fact that we are having twins. Twins are not very common in Japanese people, so they are very interested in the fact that we are having 2 boys at the same time.

7. Okinawan women, especially older women, like to rub pregnant bellies -- even more so when they find out its twins. In America this drove me insane and I snapped at strangers who would are to touch me. Here it doesn't bother me that much. I just smile. Don't know why that is so different.


Now for some updates.

Today, several of my amazing friends and neighbors gathered for a shower in honor of Caleb and Connor. About 30 minutes before the shower I started getting really excited. I hadn't realized that this shower was going to be such a blessing for me! I have struggled with the idea of having two newborns at once, but this shower put excitement into the pregnancy for me! All the griping I have done to M, the sleepless nights, soreness, and my impatience with L have not been easy to live with -- for my family or myself. I then feel guilty about being such a pain in the neck on top of being hugely uncomfortable and grouchy. My women's' Bible study group is praying and helping me along with this...but man oh man are there days I think L wishes she had a different mama. So, this shower really came to mean a lot to me! I am grateful for the effort and thought that went into our blessing. I am grateful for the excitement that those around us are sharing with us! I am grateful for God using people in our lives. I am grateful I only have 5 to 6 weeks left of being pregnant!!!!

I hope that someday soon I can start to be a blessing to others! I feel like I have been just leeching others for help and support the last two years (while M was on the hellish year of recruiting and while being preggo with twins). However, I do recognize that I am not super-mom and at this point in our lives, our focus is on our family. Maybe in another 6 -8 months when we have gotten closer to having the twins thing under control we can find people who need support.

So thank you for kind words and loving on our family! We are so blessed to have 3 healthy kids who will hopefully grow into God-fearing, independent contributing citizens of the world! Thank you all for helping us along on this journey.

(I also hope that by being honest on this blog about my thoughts and feelings, that another person who may be in a rough spot will be encouraged. Its ok to feel your feelings! Just don't let your feelings control your life.)

Have a wonderfully wonderful day!
B